OF THE SONNY

THE FINISH made for great intrigue, and it spoke to the fear Aaron Judge strikes into managers, even with Gary Sanchez hitting behind him, as Buck Showalter opted to walk the big guy as the tying run in the ninth inning. Obviously Showalter was sick of seeing Judge wreck his ballclub this season, considering the rookie outfielder has hit 11 home runs against the Orioles in 2017.

But it was still a daring strategy, and Zach Britton made it pay off by striking out Sanchez on one of his patented sinkers to end the game and beat the Yankees 6-4 on Sunday at the Stadium.

Of course, Showalter once had Barry Bonds walked intentionally with the bases loaded and won a game because of it years ago. Still, this was some gamble, since a Sanchez home run would have won the game rather than tied it.

So it’s not as if it was simply a matter of flipping a coin, even if that’s how Showalter portrayed the decision in his post-game press conference, as a way of dodging the question.

“It came up heads today,” he said with a smile.

Showalter wasn’t offering much else in the way of explanation, saying “they’re both really good hitters,” while noting that walking Judge gave Britton more freedom to be aggressive with Sanchez, knowing he could walk him and go lefty-lefty against Didi

While the Yankees will get an up-close look on Monday night at Ervin Santana, the righthander most likely to start that wildcard game, the Twins will have to wait until October to get their first-ever glimpse of Luis Severino.

The Yankee ace’s regular turn to pitch is Wednesday, the final game of this threegame series, but Joe Girardi is pushing Severino’s next turn back to Friday in Toronto, as he continues to use a six-man rotation for a second straight turn.

And while the primary motivation may be making sure Severino is lined up to pitch in the wild-card game, as well as limiting his regular-season innings, Girardi no doubt sees this as a chance to gain an edge as well.

And while Santana has had a strong season for the Twins, he's no mystery to the Yankees. In his career he is 6-9 with a 5.78 ERA against them. f course, none of that matters come Oct. 3, which is why the Yankees continue to hope to put pressure on the Red Sox. Finishing off a sweep of the Orioles would have helped, but Sonny Gray had his worst start for his new team and, in the end, Showalter was rewarded for deciding he wasn't going to let Judge do any more damage against his team this season.

It made for great theater, but in the end it also ushered the Twins into town with just a little more anticipation of what lies ahead.

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